Driving Headlong into the Side of That Building!

I was driving home after a healthcare conference in downtown Chicago last week.

Chicago street names aren't that familiar to me, but I can usually tell if I'm heading away from the Lake, towards the convention center, near the theater district, etc.
Google maps voice told me to turn left off State Street onto Ida B. Wells Drive and head due West, straight for the Interstate 94 on ramp.

The only problem was this building that seemed to be planted into the middle of Ida B. Wells Drive. I couldn't tell how many blocks ahead it was, but sure enough, Wells Drive looked like it would end at a cross street in front of this attractive structure.

This didn't make topographical sense to me.

I could see an I-94 sign at the corner, with its arrow pointing straight ahead. Nothing indicated turns, either left or right.  Not a peep from Google map voice.

I craned my head, but I just couldn't see past all the traffic to figure out if Wells Drive stopped, veered to the right, or....what?

My sense of direction assured me that the Lake was directly behind me (to the East). Any kid born in Southeastern Wisconsin can tell which way the Lake is, day or night (that's Lake Michigan to any non-midwesterner's reading this).  If the Lake is behind me, the interstate is directly in front of me and I'm on a major east-west street in downtown Chicago, then....oh wait.

It's the Chicago Stock Exchange building. I could see the big gold letters as I got closer. And, as traffic finally crept over a rise in the uneven asphalt, I could make out what every kid born in Chicago probably knows. You drive under the Chicago Stock Exchange building on Ida B. Wells Drive, also known as Congress Parkway.  Sheesh. Never mind!

Isn't that our thought process sometimes as we drive down the paths God has provided?

"But there's this big building standing right in the middle of the road!  I thought I was supposed to head this way, now what?  I don't have a plan for going left or right -- and I'm sure you meant directly ahead, no turns?!"

At least that's how my conversations with God sometime's go.

And then I come over a slight rise, look a little closer.  Oh. Sheesh. I'm going to drive right through this giant immovable object in my life. Right through it.    That is what God will do.

Sure, there are times when we do need to veer left or right. Straight ahead may have been our plan and not God's plan.  But there are ways to check the map.  Stay in daily prayer. Look for affirmation of decision making principles in the Bible.  Truth, humility, unselfishness...these should accompany the direction you take.  Then, if there's a building planted in the middle of that road, it may be one you're intended to drive through, with God's help.

Proverbs 4:26-27

"Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."

What do you believe?

My raincoat and the deluge that is sin

People often question the goodness and mercy of God, basing their measure on world events or the misfortune and hurt of people around us. "If He's so great (loving, kind, merciful, all-powerful), why do bad things happen to good people?"   There are 100's of scholarly books, podcasts and theology courses to tackle this subject.

My workaday, unscholarly, blog-length understanding of bad things happening to good people (our friends and family as well as people in other corners of the world) has unfolded like this,

"We're not pets or puppets for God." That's what my Sunday school teacher said.

God has given us - all of us - free will as proof of that. A supernatural freedom of choice.

With free will for humans comes an infinite combination of decisions and behaviors made every day - across centuries - millenniums! Every person's decisions has consequences that influence future decisions and behaviors.  If you have a moral code of any kind, you see some of these as good or bad, sinister or saintly, helping or hurting. Neutral and meaningless.

For Christians, the Bible is a moral reference point. Things that would displease God (sin) almost always displease us as a matter of course - or the consequences of someone else's sin may do so. Even today's heartbreaking disease and inherited deterioration go back to Eden and the beginning of sinful (detrimental) choices that veered from God's perfection. 

It's not a punishment or shortcoming of God. God did not build-in disease (but he has provided wisdom and technology to combat it). He does not start wars or create gangs (but He architected the elements of peace - forgiveness, mercy, love, humility, unselfishness). Our human bodies are frail vessels that only last a century at best, but God has provided an eternal life to far exceed that time.  Without tears or pain or suffering. 

God can be good and there can be a broken world, both. 

Sin is a rainstorm that you and I walk through every day. We get splashed and sprayed.

If you live in Florida, you're going to see a few hurricanes. If you live in this world, you're going to bump into sin or its conseqences.

We're going to get wet. And let's be honest - sometimes we contribute to the puddles that others must walk through!

We can stay inside. We can hunker down in our homes and wait for a sinless, sunny day. Unfortunately, the cloud of sin is persistent and pervasive. Anyway, why give in or give up? We should be more, not less empowered by the freedom God grants us. By God's love. By the Light that does pierce through.

I try to put on a raincoat of faith and forgiveness in Jesus. Try to distribute umbrellas of hope and encouragement. Be ready with fresh, dry clothing for those who are shivering and cold from the deluge. We can't stop the rain - we're humans who get sick and live in dangerous times - but we can help each other through the worst of the storms with God's Grace. God's assurance.

Colossians 3:12-14
"Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

"What do you believe?